Yeah it all is subjective. And like I said I do dig "Cloud 9", but I prefer the "Double Fantasy"/"Milk & Honey" Lennon tracks to it as well (1980 Lennon & "Imagine" are my fave Lennon works with "Plastic Ono Band" just a hair breadth behind them)."Thirty-Three & 1/3" has always been a favorite. I actually love it up there with "All Things Must Pass", and with the aforementioned Lennon albums rank as my fave Beatles solo works. I preferred "Brainwashed" to "Cloud 9" instantly, and it's the last album in my fave half dozen solo Beatles albums. I like pretty much everything about it better, though there is a somewhat similar feel to them. To be honest I only liked "Cloud 9" when it first came out. I still bought it, but I was into so many different kinds of music then, and I thought it was a bit overrated. It was a long time ago that I came to really love it, and I still do.

oh, I disagree completely with you, James1985. There are at least THREE other worse George solo albums ahead of it (or behind it): DARK HORSE, EXTRA TEXTURE, and the incredibly awful beyond words, GONE TROPPO.

SIE has some pretty good songs. I thought it was a letdown from the great previous album, GEORGE HARRISON, but, in retrospect, not a bad little album. Love "Blood From A Clone," "Life Itself," and a couple of others. I like the IDEA and the lyrics to "All Those Years Ago," but I could never stand the actual melody, arrangement, and recording.

in years to come/they may discover/what the air we breathe and the life we lead are all about/but it won't be soon enough for me

While not George's best album, Somewhere in England not too bad. I'd give it maybe 6 out of 10. The standouts for me are "Blood From A Clone", "Baltimore Oriole" (a soulful and haunting rendition), "That Which I Have Lost" (I like how the lyrics seem to tumble out of George's mouth ala Across the Universe and the lead guitar reminds me of early George), "Writings on the Wall" (a nice and dreamy tune with some thoughtful, sad lyrics) and "Hong Kong Blues" (Nice, funky and energetic cover). "All Those Years Ago" is okay, nothing great. You know, for going to the trouble of inviting Paul and company to sing back up one can hardly even hear them; I never understood why George didn't take the opportunity to at least let Paul be heard on the final mix... The rest of the tracks are fair to middling to me, although "Lay His Head" would have been a standout if it had been included on the album. Record executives...what do they know?

I just don't think there's any inspiration, barely any melody in the songwriting, no sense of fun either, which needs to be in George's solo stuff for it to work for me. That's why I like GT more than SIE and ET. He's having a laugh on Gone Troppo, he actually doesn't care about the industry anymore and wants to make an album he enjoys. SIE just sounds like a chore – and he really didn't have the songs.

Blood from a clone: If you're going to attack the music industry, do it with a song that doesn't make it seem like they were right! It's so limp, no melody and sounds whiny from a man who's living in a huge Henley mansion because of the music industry and its benefits. There's no bottom end on the production, either.

Unconsciousness Rules: I guess this is okay – a poor re-write of This Song, but no strong melody to speak of, really. And the backing vocals are really corny.

Life Itself: Gorgeous. Artistic inspiration and on of his best solo melodies. Beautifully played and sung. So far ahead of anything on the rest of the record.

All those years ago: It's hard to be too down on this because it's a John tribute, but... It doesn't feel like a song about a real human relationship, like Here Today does. Maybe because it's uptempo, maybe because he re-wrote the lyrics after John was murdered, but it doesn't move me like HT or Never Without You do.

Baltimore Oreole: This album's just all over the place stylistically. I don't really like the sax, or the song. Not one of his better covers.

Teardrops: Again, just a weak melody. The song's not there. Very ELO production, come to think of it, which is interesting given what he later did with Jeff Lynne. But not a strong song.

That Which I Have Lost: I actually quite like this one. Reminds me of Deep Blue or something like that.

Writing's on the Wall: It's just very similar to a number of meandering tunes without a very strong melody on this and the previous two albums. He just wasn't writing very strong melodies at this time.

Hong Kong Blues: Unfortunately, it sounds just like the music from Sonic the Hedgehog! (The opening synth riff thing anyway).

Save the World: Horrible! No melody. A couple of nice lines though.

May sweet memories of friends from the pastAlways comes to you, when you look for them

Yeah, I think "Save the World" is a pretty bad song. And for the record, I too like Gone Troppo better than Somewhere in England. Some of your complaints about the production are valid, James. I have long lamented the mix of this album and when the remasters came out, I was hoping for a better sound than what we ended up with. the album would have been better served with a remix perhaps. You know, I write and record songs at home and it's surprising sometimes how the mix can make all the difference in a song.

James1985, you make some fair points, but I think you're overly harsh. But, that's ok. It's your opinion. How you could possibly listen to GONE TROPPO, though, over SIE...wow. GT is absolutely HORRENDOUS. It makes EXTRA TEXTURE sound like ALL THINGS MUST PASS.

When you say he's "stylistically all over the place" (which I don't see or agree with), why is that so bad? I give you SGT. PEPPER. I give you The White Album. I give you almost EVERY Paul solo album-- including- and in particular- NEW.

"Writing's On The Wall" is what it is. The lyrics wouldn't exactly conjure up a happy little upbeat tune, would it? I like this song a lot. Not to say I would play it over and over again, but it's a nice album track. Like "Long, Long, Long" was on the White Album.

Fair criticism on some of the others, though-- particularly "Save The World." Nice sentiment. Awful song.

in years to come/they may discover/what the air we breathe and the life we lead are all about/but it won't be soon enough for me